The roster over the next seven days makes my heart happy. We have fresh blood coming through the ranks on the comedy scene that are ready, willing, and able to show the old heads how it's done. Follow me as I unearth more than a few gems in This Week In Comedy.

MON JAN 28 / LAUGHING AT THE OFFICE / THE OFFICE PUB / 117 JOHN / 8PM / FREE

Damn what a line-up. For years, ALTdot Comedy Lounge has held the title of best weekly roster, but perhaps that's about to change. Hunter Collins, Nick Flanagan, Darryl Orr, Jeff Elliot, Ali Hassan, DJ Demers, K. Trev Wilson--and that's not even the entire list. And it's free? And it's $4 for a mixed drink or Jager shot? Please join me as I push one gun finger into the air to honour your producers, Brian Ward and Christopher Allin.

FRI FEB 1 / JUST FOR LAUGHS SHOWCASE / ABSOLUTE COMEDY / 2335 YONGE / 1045PM / $12

What makes your host, Monty Scott, so interesting is that he doesn't seem to have an act, per se. He walks up to the stage, puts down his beer, looks at his notes, delivers an improvised bit based on the previous comedian, and while the audience is laughing and applauding, he casually takes a sip of his beer. Then, right as he's about to put down his drink, laughs into the glass having come up with something more to say, and proceeds to leave the audience roaring once more. I truly believe that Monty's one of the most creative comedic minds in Canada. JFL betta reckonize!

SAT FEB 2 / COMEDY UNCOVERED 2 / COMEDY BAR / 945 BLOOR W / 1030PM / $12

Mark DeBonis headlines this wonderfully diverse affair. To be honest, I didn't take a liking to him the first few times I saw his act. To me, it came off a bit rambly, but that changed a few weeks ago. I've realized that the way that he sets up his premises isn't the clean-cut, every-word-in-its-place type of delivery. He tells his jokes in a way that you'd expect him to tell them if you were at his house grabbing a coffee, and that casual nature threw me off. But he had me dying when I saw him at Don't Get Bored Of Us And Leave at the Ossington. The observations were sound, the delivery wonderfully conversational, and the rants applause-breakingly good.

SAT FEB 2 / FAN FICTION - JAMES BOND EDITION / BLACK SWAN / 154 DANFORTH / 730PM / $7

In the words of Jeremy Woodcock of the sketch troupe Rulers of the Universe, "We find the best/worst fan fiction. We'll read it once to know that it's perfectly bad at the start, and then find out how horrible it is on stage together with the audience." In this edition, they focus on James Bond, fodder that is already putting a smile on my face in anticipation. The best thing about the show is that it's run by the aforementioned Rulers, whose video game sketch (featured) is one of the funniest things I saw in 2012.

About the Author: This is Michael Jagdeo, and I refuse to write about myself in the third-person. My blog, Diary of a Stand-up Comedian, walks you through the up's and down's (they're mostly down's, really) in my quest to become a killer comic in Toronto.